Chapter Two: Miss Livingstone, I Presume?

[Bullfrog]

Lawrence knocks on the door.
"Hello? It's me, Lawrence."

[Philulhu]

Emily paused and Mrs Webster got up when she heard the knock at the door. She left the room a few moments later, with Lawrence and Bernie in tow*.

"James' car was his pride and joy," continued Emily. "He was always tinkering with it and made sure it was clean. It was black. A Chrysler, I think. The registration began 'AB' but I don't remember the rest."

She sniffed again and with tears rolling down her face, said, "Do you think he's coming home?"

*OOC,[strike]Not sure what Bernie's plans were, so he may get retconned into this scene...[/strike] Bernie is back in the room.

[peper757]

"We're doing our best to bring him back home, Emily." Thomas said, trying to reassure her.

He glances around at the other gentlemen, trying to read their faces.

[Mr. Handy]

William nods in agreement. "If we can find his car, he probably won't be far from it," he says. "Thank you, what you've told us will help a great deal."

[Philulhu]

Emily managed a muffled ”Thank you” as Mrs Webster showed the young men to the door. As she opened the door and they trooped out, Mrs Webster said, ”Please find him, gentlemen. I don’t know what she will do if James doesn’t come home.”

OOC,It is now 9.15am. What are your plans?

[HoneyDog]

"Let's see if the others found out anything of interest" says Howard. He is beginning to fear the worst about James. "Where on earth could he be?"

[Bullfrog]

Lawrence is waiting outside the front door.

"Well, the neighbor told me that James would visit here on weekends, but never arrived last weekend, so unless James' car is in the garage, we won't find it here. Also, that lunatic neighbor poisoned Mrs. Webster's cat, evidently."

[Mr. Handy]

"Poisoned the cat?" asks William. "What exactly happened?"

[peper757]

"And who is this 'lunatic neighbour'?", adds Thomas, intrigued.

[Bullfrog]

"The fella next door I just finished talking with. He accidentally let slip that he poisoned the cat. Honestly, I really wanted that conversation to end as soon as possible."

[Mr. Handy]

"That strikes me as something very important," says William. "We need to find out more about this. What is the neighbor's name, for starters? Someone responsible for poisoning a cat could also be responsible for James's disappearance."

[Mallard]

"We never caught his name." stated Bernie. "Just the old guy peeping at from his window." Bernie pointed to the house "He was convinced that Mrs Webster was the crazy one. Maybe there is more to her than meets the eye?" What if I stick around for a while and discreetly keep an eye on both the houses. See if anything happens. Who knows, maybe James will turn up."

[Philulhu]

Saturday, October 26th, 1929 9.15am.
Main Street, Amesbury, Mass.

More people can now be seen on the street as the locals make their way to work or head to join the queues at the grocers and other such stores. A few cars pass by, for those wealthy enough to be able to drive.

The group of young men are starting to attract some attention, stood as they are on the sidewalk outside the home of Mrs Webster, who is known to live alone with just her young lodger for company.

[peper757]

"I'm not sure that poisoning a cat necessarily means somebody would kidnap a person, but without any other leads it might be worth taking another look at this crazy neighbour." Thomas says. He thinks for a moment, before adding "You might be right though, Bernie. It's not impossible for Mrs. Webster to have done something to James' car perhaps, if she wanted to..."

[HoneyDog]

“Why did he feel compelled to poison the unfortunate feline?” asks Howard, impressing himself with his own eloquency.

[Mr. Handy]

"I'd like to know that myself," says William. "You're right, Mrs. Webster is a suspect as well. She might have thought she was protecting Emily."

[peper757]

"Well then, what are we to do? Do we follow Bernie's suggestion or should we take a more direct approach?

[Mr. Handy]

"I don't think we have time to wait around for hours in case something happens, which it very well might not, especially with the looks we're getting," says William. "I say we take the bull by the horns and talk to this fellow."

[Mallard]

"The suit is right. Lets talk to him again. I'll still hang around after that case the place after that, along with anyone who wants to join. Who knows, a lawyer asking questions may spook the neighbor or the old lady into action."

[peper757]

"In that case, there's no time like the present." Thomas says as he begins to walk over to the house of the mysterious neighbour.